Archived News:

Monday, May 11, 2009

Steam News announces some
free DLC that's now available for Zeno Clash, ACE Team's fighting game.
The DLC is a model pack for
Garry's Mod. The Zeno Clash DLC is accompanied by a new
Garry's Mod update paving
the way for the DLC and addressing a couple of bugs.

Crytek's Official Modding Portal now features the release of the source code
for version 1.5 of Crysis Wars, offering resources for mod authors using the
Crysis Wars SDK. There is an accompanying FAQ explaining why this is for Crysis
Wars only, and how to get maps created with these resources to work in other
Crysis games.

More purported Duke Nukem Forever screenshots can be found
on eXp. Some
of the included shots outline of how the first-person shooter was to progress
level-by-level, outlining key elements like new weapons and skills acquired, and
outlining the game's plot.

The
Battlefield Franchise Website now features an updated beta of the upcoming
patch for Battlefield 2 that will update the shooter sequel to version
1.50. They have an extensive list of changes since the first beta, and word is:
"We have taken a lot of feedback and made more fixes to come up with Beta 2.
Bjorn has made modifications to Operation Blue Pearl so be sure to give your
feedback on the new layouts HERE."
The site also mentions a new version 1.0 of the Sandbox mod for BF2 on
The Sir. Community Website, saying:
"BF2: Sandbox is a mod that lets you use the BF2 engine to build structures, set
up racetracks, ramps, and much much more. This is all done from an easy Command
Rose interface in-game."

NCsoft Reports Earnings Results for Q1 2009, showing profits are up across
the board. Word is: "NCsoft explained that substantial increase in profit was
based on solid maintenance of Lineage and Lineage II sales, in addition to Aion
sales. The decrease in marketing spend and the narrow increase in operating
costs QoQ (6%) resulted in the drastic growth of operating profit."

The
Thief 4 Developer Interview on IncGamers chats with Stéphane D'Astous,
general manager at Eidos-Montreal, about the just-announced continuation of the
sneaky series. Topics include how they are just completing the concept stage and
moving toward pre-production, how they are proceeding without any members of the
original Thief team from Looking Glass, fan expectations and backlash,
and several questions about specifics that do not get direct answers.

Eidos-Montréal offers the expected announcement of Thief 4, though they
are not supplying many details about the next installment in the action/stealth
series. The Thief 4 Website is online, but
that seems to be shooting blanks right now. Here's what they have to say right
now, which emphasizes their hunt for talent to fill out the game's development
team:

Eidos-Montréal is excited to unveil its previously secret second
title in development at the studio, Thief™ 4, the next instalment in the
legendary series.

The original Thief game, Thief: The Dark Project redefined first person gaming
and established an entirely new genre of stealth based game play. The critically
and commercially acclaimed Thief series has won numerous awards and accolades
including GameSpy Hall of Fame, GameSpot Greatest Games of All Time and The
Academy of Interactive Arts And Sciences Outstanding Achievement in Character
and Story Development.

Eidos-Montréal, which is also currently producing the much anticipated Deus Ex™
3, has recruited the very best core team for the development of Thief 4. The
team is comprised of industry veterans who have worked on an incredible
collection of AAA titles and who each bring personal expertise in their
respective fields.

“We’re in the early development stages for Thief 4, but this is an incredibly
ambitious and exciting project for Eidos,” said Stéphane D’Astous, General
Manager at Eidos-Montréal. “While it’s too early for us to offer any specific
game details, right now we are focused on recruiting the very best talent to
join the core team at the studio and help us make what we believe will be one of
the most exciting games on the market.”

Development is under way and the team is looking to recruit the very best talent
as production ramps up. If you are a world-class developer looking to join the
talented Thief 4 team, visit
www.eidosmontreal.com to submit your résumé or
www.thief4.com to join the community
discussion.

A teaser trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now available,
offering a couple of very brief glimpses of the upcoming military shooter
sequel. The clip teases a full reveal of the game, which will apparently take
place on May 24 during the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA playoffs. The
clip is available on
ActionTrip and
Strategy Informer.

A demo version of Light of Altair is now available, providing a sample of
this science-fiction colony-building game in the works at SaintXi. Here's a
description of the game, which is due next month via digital distribution:
"Light of Altair is a colonization game set in our own solar system and beyond.
You must set up a strong economy to survive in the hostile void of space as you
compete with other factions, the deadly environment and internal conflicts of
interest. But most of all it is a strongly story driven game that will pull
people in to this vision of the future." The demo is a 98 MB download, available
on
AtomicGamer,
ComputerGames.ro, and
Gamer's Hell.

LucasArts follows yesterday's revelation of Star Wars: The
Clone Wars -- Republic Heroes with the
official announcement for the upcoming Star Wars game. The
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Website is
live, though this is just a teaser for now, redirecting to a subdirectory on
LucasArts.com called "/theclonewars_franchise/," so you can place The Clone Wars
on the official "franchise" list. The announcement confirms Windows, Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP, and DS and a September release date. It
also fills in some of the details on the game:

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. –
May 11, 2009 – Fans of the popular Star Wars: The Clone Wars™ TV series can
continue the battle for galactic peace this September in an all-new videogame
from LucasArts and Krome Studios. Based on the Cartoon Network series and
collaborating directly with Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars The Clone Wars:
Republic Heroes allows players to take up arms on behalf of the noble Galactic
Republic, while pursuing the mysterious bounty hunter Cad Bane and combating the
all-new Skakoan super villain Kul Teska.

Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes allows players to fight as both Jedi
Knights and Clone Troopers through over 30 unique missions, all created
incorporating the same ground-breaking, stunning visual style from the TV
series. Featuring a brand-new storyline, players will get the chance to take
part in the key events that lead directly into the highly anticipated second
season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Jedi characters can slice and dice their
way through countless enemies, commandeer droids and show off their combat
prowess on foot and in a variety of vehicles. Clone Troopers fire things up with
a heavy weapons armament that includes rocket launchers, thermal detonators and
even jet packs in levels built specifically to take run-and-gun gameplay to
exciting levels.

Codemasters
announces Ashes Cricket 2009, a sports simulation based on this summer's
international cricket clash between England and Australia. Here
are
some screenshots from the game, which is due for Windows, Xbox 360, and
PlayStation 3 this summer, with a Wii version to follow at some later point.
Here's a bit:

Coming from the home of video game cricket, Ashes Cricket
2009 is set to build on the heritage that Codemasters has enjoyed with its
best-selling Brian Lara series and will continue to lead the field with great
batting, bowling and fielding gameplay and authenticity that made the series a
huge hit with cricket fans the world over. Produced by Codemasters, the game is
currently being developed by Transmission Games (Brian Lara 2007 Pressure Play
(PSP)).

Delivering all the exciting, athletic, skilful and technical elements of the
sport, the game’s comprehensive ‘Ashes’ mode will feature all five Tests played
out at carefully detailed recreations of each authentic venue. In addition,
gamers will also be able to play Test matches, One Day Internationals, 20 over
games and a series of challenge modes. The high definition current generation
versions will feature full online multiplayer as well as support for local
multiplayer games.

The 2009 edition of the Develop 100 is
online, the latest list honoring the "most bankable" developers in the video
game industry by their somewhat subjective criteria that includes sales data,
critical success, and industry standing. The top ten are Blizzard Entertainment,
Nintendo, Rockstar North, EA Canada, Capcom, Ubisoft Montreal, Treyarch,
Infinity Ward, Epic Games, and Bethesda Softworks.
MCV breaks down the list a bit, pointing out Activison Blizzard has three
studios in the top 10, there are 31 European studios on the list, with 26 of
those located in the UK.

Last year MrsBlue bought a pair of deck brushes, saying we could use these to
clean our deck with OxyClean instead of hiring someone to power-wash it. This
weekend I learned what should have been obvious, which is that by "we" she meant
I would be doing the work, apparently her brush would be for beating me if I
slacked off. So I'm out there following the instructions from the OxyClean
container -- mopping the deck with some Oxy-water, letting it sit, scrubbing it
with that deck brush, and hosing it all off -- when it occured to me what was
happening: In the year 2009 I was actually swabbing the deck! I would have
complained, but I was afraid I'd end up in the brig... or maybe even walking the
plank.